The Hen – Making him earn his keep.

Here in Taiwan, in attempt to appear international, local stores and brands often prefer to use Caucasian models. So one day we were walking down the sidewalk and a lady circled my stroller to take a look at Henri. Rubbernecking is quite common here so I didn’t think anything of it but then she hands me her card, explaining that she is a modeling agent. Not a week later she calls me up with a job for Henri. I decided to give it a try. I thought it might be fun and that if it turns out too hard on Henri then I won’t do it again.

So Henri decides to refuse his nap time in the morning so he shows up completely exhausted. Luckily they told me to take a walk, let him sleep and return when he awakens so that’s what I do.  When I return there are two other models there and we start alternating – Henri would be dressing while one of the other kids were doing pictures on the set. Henri was very intrigued by his surroundings and wanted to see everything. When he was up he did quite well. There were two Taiwanese ladies whose job was to get him to smile, set him up the way they wanted (turn this way or that) and smooth his hair or outfit. They had all kinds of equipment – remote control cars they would drive right at him to his delight, they would throw a ball back and forth… This is their JOB… Anyway, Henri had to change about 10 times during his two hour shift which he didn’t really like. But once he was dressed he was back to his chipper self and seemed to like the picture part.  Towards the end both of us were ready for it to be over but all in all I didn’t think it was overly rough on the guy. He was in good spirits the rest of the day and caught up on his sleep so I would be open to doing it again. Plus he earned $3,000 NT! (about $100 USD)